Doc. 9606

    21 October 2002

    Situation in Belarus

    Written Question No. 412

    Reply from the Committee of Ministers

    adopted at the 812th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (16 October 2002)

    I. Written Question No. 412 by Mr Gerrit Valk and Mr Jan Dirk Blaauw (Doc. 9513)

    There is currently no improvement at all in the situation in Belarus;

    The OSCE mission in the country has been unable to continue its work;

    Mr Valk and Mr Blaauw,

    To ask the Committee of Ministers

    i. what further measures the Committee of Ministers envisages to increase the pressure on the government of Belarus to change its policy;

    ii. why Belarus still has an office in the Council of Europe premises paid for by the budget adopted by the Committee of Ministers;

    iii. if it agrees with the undersigned that closing the country’s Council of Europe office would send a strong signal to the government of Belarus.

    II. Reply by the Committee of Ministers

    1.       The Committee of Ministers has on several occasions, mainly through communications from the Chair, reported to the Assembly on its policy with regard to Belarus.

    2.       In its view, the situation in Belarus continues to give cause for concern, as recently demonstrated by the action taken against the OSCE. The Chair of the Committee of Ministers therefore supported the Secretary General when he stated on 13 September 2002 that “only by taking these steps towards genuine political reform can Belarus hope to re-join the European family of nations”.

    3.       The Committee of Ministers will therefore continue to encourage Belarus to move down the path to democratic development.

    4.       For these reasons the Belarus representative still has, on the first floor of the Palais de l’Europe, in the area provided for ministerial delegations, the office that was allocated to this country as a state applying for membership of the Council of Europe.

    5.       The Committee of Ministers wishes to keep an open mind on this issue. It knows that it can count on the Assembly’s support in this matter and refers to Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1306 (2002) on the situation in Belarus in this context.